laudatores

Laudatores is the Latin plural form of laudator, a masculine noun meaning “one who praises” or “praiser.” In Latin, laudator denotes a person who offers praise or serves as a panegyrist, and the term can refer to a speaker, writer, or flatterer who extols a subject such as a patron, a ruler, or a virtue. The related noun laudatio denotes the act or speech of praise, while laudator identifies the agent of praise. The word can carry neutral or pejorative connotations depending on context, particularly when flattery is implied.

In classical and medieval Latin literature, laudatores are used to describe both legitimate panegyrics and flattery. The concept appears in discussions of courtly rhetoric, poetry, and public addresses where individuals or groups are described as offering praise to a person or institution. A well-known expression is laudatores temporis acti, literally “praisers of times past,” used to characterize nostalgia or an idealization of bygone eras; the phrase is often associated with Petrarch and later Renaissance and scholarly discourse on nostalgia.

Linguistically, laudator is a third-declension masculine noun. Its plural form is laudatores, with the full paradigm including laudatorem as the accusative singular and laudatorum as the genitive plural. Today, the term is mostly encountered in discussions of Latin rhetoric, philology, and historical texts, where it helps describe the social role of praise in communication. See also laudatio, panegyric, and related discussions of Latin rhetoric and grammar.